Experience of Spousal Maintenance?

MrE1

I've also posted this question on Quora...
Is anyone in England or Wales willing to share their own divorce experience of "Spouse Maintenance"? How much you got and for what commitments and needs. How much would the court awarded for taking over a 300k home on a single 25k salary with a 6+9 yr old? please say if you'rw from England or Wales (in case it makes a difference) 

elsien

Spousal  maintenance is very unusual. 

Sibling had to pay his wife for two years to allow her the opportunity to retrain because she’d been out of the workforce for a long time. He believes that with a different solicitor, he wouldn’t have had to pay spousal maintenance at all, and that it was only awarded to allow her to get back into work so he wouldn’t have had to pay it if she’d already been working.
I’m not seeing how you can afford to buy someone out of a 300 K house on a 25K salary unless there are lots of other assets to take into account . 

Sibling stayed in the family house and brought the ex out and she bought a smaller place for her and the children elsewhere. This was about 10 years ago.

it’s not a one size fits all numbers game - a court has to take account of both parties needs and if that means selling up and both downsizing that’s what has to happen.

RAS

Only case I can recall on here, the wife had been SAHM for over 20 years, and got short-term spousal maintenance to retrain. She wanted more money but was expected to try and work part-time.

Spendless

From everything ive read, Its rare and if awarded is usually only for a short amount of time in order for the other party to retrain.

sheramber

Why can the house not be sold splitting the equity and you buy /rent what you can afford?

MrE1

sheramber said:

Why can the house not be sold splitting the equity and you buy /rent what you can afford?

That is one option but the property would have to be a significantly smaller flat. 25k may also prove to be a tight budget for raising two children.

elsien

There is still child benefit, child maintenance and (possibly because I don't know the limits) some entitlement to universal credit all on top of the 25K. Child maintenance is not counted as income when making a claim. So the budget will be higher. 
And presumably the children will be with the other partner for some of the time? 
So it will be more that 25K - the reality for most couples splitting up is that there is an associated drop in standard of living because of the need to run two households on the same income which previously ran one. 

pinkshoes

MrE1 said:

sheramber said:

Why can the house not be sold splitting the equity and you buy /rent what you can afford?

That is one option but the property would have to be a significantly smaller flat. 25k may also prove to be a tight budget for raising two children.

Have you actually checked using an online benefit calculator to see what you're entitled to?

I'm a part time teacher so earn £26k, and out of curiosity should something happen to Mr Pinkshoes, I checked what I'd be entitled to claim (as we have 3 kids and a 4 bed mortgaged house!) and it was actually quite a lot, as long as my savings were less than £6k! You'd also be able to get child maintenance.

Spousal maintenance doesn't really get awarded unless in quite extreme cases. 

Exodi

I think Spousal Maintenance is generally more common in the US in bitter divorce proceedings between famous people, where the ex-wife might allege she require things like £20k per month for her phone bill (a real example).

In the UK between normal people I'd say it's very rare, I've never seen a case on MSE.

As is always the case (should be stickied at this point) 2 households is more expensive to run than 1, so living standards will inevitably be affected.

Stateofart

Not really a thing here in the UK.  I don't think any bank will allow you to take on a 300K house on that wage.  The court may 'award' you the house until the kids are 18, however in the bank's eyes you will fail the affordability test.  You will probably need to downside unless there's tons of equity in the house.

comeandgo

My husband had to pay spousal maintenance to his ex wife for two years as she had never worked but gave it to her in one lump sum rather than the monthly payments.  It was only £200 a month.